Madoff. The Wall Street financier Bernard “Bernie” Madoff pleaded guilty last March “in front of a New York courtroom”. I am referring to an article by the British newspaper “The Guardian” according to which Mr. Madoff confessed to 11 criminal charges of fraud, money-laundering, false statements and perjury and of “operating a corrupt business empire dating back to the early 1990s”.

The “once-respected Wall Street fixture”, who might be condemned next June to a punishment of “150-year jail term”, “has been the subject of death threats”, according to the newspaper, and “was surrounded by a tight security detail”. I think this aspect may be important to demonstrate how the economic turmoil has affected the everyday life of most Americans. If someone receives a death threat, something very important should be happened, shouldn’t it? Unless the USA are a country where very mad people live…

Florida, Switzerland and the UK. Madoff – the journalist Andrew Clark writes – described in the courtroom “how his scheme originated in the early 1990s when a recession made it difficult to produce healthy returns. Instead of investing in stocks and shares, he began using new deposits to pay out fake profits to existing clients”. What follows next in the Guardian’s article by Andrew Clark is: “The financier said that at the outset, he had been falsifying records on a temporary basis”. Moreover, Madoff “described laundering money through a Londonbranch of his company to create a false paper trail”. The newspaper, like many media in that days, used the expressions “Ponzi scheme” and “pyramid selling in the US” (cash from new customers or investors – Phillip Inman explains in the Guardian – is given to existing investors). And this situation should have affected areas like Florida, Switzerland and the UK.

Christmas time – 05.11.09. Maybe Christmas Market in Prague and Czech Republic? There is the Hotel Tiepolo with prices from 45 euros in a single standard room during low season (from January 7 to March 31 and from November 4 to December 26) to 209 euros for a quintupla superior room during holiday time (from March 21 to March 25, May 1 to May 4 and December 27 to January 6).

The Telegraph gives importance to Queen Elizabeth’s emphasis on family and refers her acknowledgement that this Christmas was a “sombre occasion” for many people who had lost their jobs or their homes because of the financial turmoil. Duncan Gardham, the Telegraph’s security correspondent reports on the alternative Christmas message and Matthew Moore summarises the archbishops’ blames.